LIM Won-hee, KIM Won-hae and YOON Je-moon have been added to the cast of Astronomy. The Joseon Era costume drama is the latest work from melodrama hitmaker HUR Jin-ho. The actors will join previously set leads CHOI Min-sik and HAN Suk-kyu in the film that will depict the relationship between King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty and the astronomer JANG Yeong-sil. Prolific character actor LIM Won-hee r...

Unstoppable, a new vehicle for popular star Don LEE (aka MA Dong-seok), completed filming on August 3. The crime-action title marks the debut of director KIM Min-ho. The film focuses on a legendary gangster played by LEE who is trying to go on the straight and narrow until the day his wife is kidnapped. However, the perpetrators of the crime don’t realize who they are up against. Don LEE, who beca...

Trial drama The Jurors (translated title), with MOON So-ri and PARK Hyung-sik, kicked off production on July 7. The film is the first feature for director HONG Seung-wan. The Jurors will focus on the true story of the first jury trial in Korea, which took place in 2008. MOON is on board to play the judge who leads the trial, while PARK is playing the last of the eight people to be picked as jurors...

Blockbuster director RYOO Seung-wan held a Master Class at the Beijing Film Academy on December 1. Co-hosted by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and China’s Beijing Film Academy, the master class gave Chinese film students and filmmakers the opportunity to learn more about Korean culture and cinema. During the master class, RYOO discussed his career and answered the questions from the audience. He ...

The number of attendees and the total sales in August 2017 were 29.88 million and USD 206.5 million respectively. According to the August 2017 report on the Korean film industry by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), attendance figures for August have declined for the third straight year from a high in 2015. The total number of viewers decreased by 60,000 for a contraction of 0.2% while total sales f...

The number of attendees and the total sales in July 2017 tallied for a total of 21.36 million and USD 148.7 million, respectively. Attendance figures for July, which had been increasing since 2013, declined for the first time in four years, according to the July 2017 report on the Korean film industry by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). The total number of viewers decreased by 4.88 million for a c...

The largest April weekend in Korean history was fueled by the blistering debut of Marvel’s biggest film yet, as Avengers: Infinity War set records across the planet in the biggest global debut of all time with USD 630 million. In Korea, total ticket sales over the weekend reached 3.37 million while Hollywood’s share of that was a dominant 96%. The new Avengers film set a number of records in Korea...

Box Office Report of 2017 The Korean film market reached new all-time benchmarks for income and admissions in 2017 after a strong December rally. Yet the real story behind the numbers was which unexpected films got audiences the most excited while several seemingly surefire hits stumbled out of the gate.With 219.87 million tickets sold when all was said and done, 2017 saw the Korean exhibition mar...

Though neither claimed the top spot, two new local titles returned the market share advantage to Korea, which claimed 53% of admissions during another busy fall frame that was only 10% down after last week’s blockbuster opening, as 2.21 million tickets were sold overall. Remaining in first place after a strong debut, Thor: Ragnarok was down a healthy 47% for another 834,000 sales (USD 6.37 million...